- Military
- ERS 15
- NORAD 2412
- 1966-077C
- Medium Earth orbit
Current orbit
View on live mapOrbit began over Antarctica
Orbit ends over the Weddell Sea
In view from you
Nobody watches ORS 1 go over, but a receiver still asks whether it is above the horizon. Say where you are and this card answers.
Your position is rounded to about a kilometre and sent only to the Orbinauts API, to find the pass.
No brightness has been published for ORS 1, so it is not a naked-eye satellite and no city page carries pass times for it. Nothing here estimates one.
Seeing it
There is nothing to go outside for: it is too faint to see with the naked eye from anywhere on Earth.
Timeline
- Launch
Launched, on the day GCAT records. Source
Summary
Over Australia LIVE
Where is ORS 1?
At 6:52:03 PM UTC ORS 1 was over Australia (25.2° S, 127.8° E), 3,700 km up, moving at 6.29 km/s and in sunlight.
What is ORS 1?
A satellite in medium Earth orbit, in space since Aug 19, 1966.
Can I see ORS 1?
No, not with the naked eye: no brightness has been published for ORS 1, and nothing here estimates one.
General
- Operator
- US Air Force Space Systems Division
- State
- United States of America
- Built by
- TRW Inc.
- Military
- Yes: a defence organisation flies it
- Launched
- Mass
- 5 kg
- Operating
- No: its regular operations have ended
- Orbit class
- Medium Earth orbit
From GCAT, Jonathan McDowell’s general catalogue, licensed CC BY 4.0: the operator, the state, the manufacturer, that a defence organisation flies it, the launch day, the mass, and whether it is operating. The orbit class is read from its current elements.
Latest orbital data
- Position received
- 6:52 PM UTC
- Station time (UTC)
- 6:52 PM UTC
- Latitude / longitude
- 25.2° S, 127.8° E
- Altitude
- 3,700 km
- Speed
- 6.29 km/s (22,644 km/h)
- Course
- south
- Light
- In sunlight
- Inclination
- 90.3°
- Orbital period
- 167.6 minutes
- Orbits per day
- 8.59
- This orbit
- 3,684 to 3,696 km
- In shadow
- None of this orbit
- In view from
- Within 4,610 km of the point below it
- Elements epoch
- Nov 7, 2026, 9:42 PM, 21 hours old
- Source
- Position from Space-Track orbital elements of Nov 7, 2026, 9:42 PM, 21 hours old.
No operator publishes an ephemeris for ORS 1, so every position here comes from its orbital elements.
In orbit
- Close approaches
- No close approach to ORS 1 has been reported publicly in the past thirty days.
From Space-Track’s public conjunction messages; the latest report was issued Nov 8, 2026, 1:11 PM, 3 hours old. Only approaches serious enough to be reported publicly are listed: within three days and, for two bodies near the Earth, closer than a kilometre with a chance of a collision above 1 in 10,000, the level at which NASA moves the ISS.
Launched with
ORS 1 shares its launch, 1966-077, with 5 other bodies the catalogue lists in orbit.
| Body | What it is |
|---|---|
| OPS 0856 | Satellite |
| SECOR 7 (EGRS 7) | Earth-watching satellite |
| OPS 0856 DEB | Debris |
| OPS 0856 DEB | Debris |
| OPS 0856 DEB | Debris |
Read from the international designators of the US catalogue: the year and the launch number every piece of one launch shares. A body that has come down is no longer listed.
Data and API
The current elements from Space-Track as an OMM object, epoch Nov 7, 2026, 9:42 PM, 21 hours old.
{
"OBJECT_NAME": "ERS 15",
"OBJECT_ID": "1966-077C",
"EPOCH": "2026-11-07T21:42:47.264544",
"MEAN_MOTION": 8.59079771,
"ECCENTRICITY": 0.00056311,
"INCLINATION": 90.3265,
"RA_OF_ASC_NODE": 278.8983,
"ARG_OF_PERICENTER": 282.3666,
"MEAN_ANOMALY": 77.6555,
"EPHEMERIS_TYPE": 0,
"CLASSIFICATION_TYPE": "U",
"NORAD_CAT_ID": 2412,
"ELEMENT_SET_NO": 999,
"REV_AT_EPOCH": 40280,
"BSTAR": 0,
"MEAN_MOTION_DOT": 2e-8,
"MEAN_MOTION_DDOT": 0
}